Page 85 - The Arts of China, By Michael Sullivan Good Book

&6 Pacini; horse poised on a swallow
with wings outstretched Bronze. Prom
a tomb at Lci-t'ai, Kansu Eastern Han
While the idea of executing stone sculpture in relief may possi- Dynasty, second century A. D.
bly have been derived from western Asia, it had been thoroughly
assimilated by the Later Han. Stone reliefs have been found in al-
most every part of China. The most truly sculptural arc the ani-
mals and figures carved on a pair of funerary pillars standing be-
fore the tomb of 3n official named Shcn who was buried in Ch'ii-
hsien in Szechwan during the second century A.D. The pillars
themselves are timber towers translated into stone. In high relief
between the beam ends is a monster like a gargoyle; at the corners
crouching Atlantean figures — perhaps representing barbarian
prisoners—support the beams, while above on each main face
stand a beautifully modelled deer and rider. The only figures in flat
relief are the directional symbols: on the east the dragon, on the
west the tiger, to the north the "dark warrior" (snake and tor-
toise), to the south the phoenix.
Nearly all of what passes for relief sculpture in the Han period,
however, is not really sculpture at all so much as engraving in the